Hoshiarpur, Punjab: Hailing the Patiala court verdict in which it had handed over life sentence to four policemen for kidnapping and then killing a Khanna resident in a fake encounter, the Dal Khalsa feels that it would revive the dying hopes for justice in those families whose children were abducted and subsequently killed in fake encounter by security forces during the heydays of armed struggle in Punjab.
Party’s head H S Dhami and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said this latest verdict pronounced by Special Judge Kanwaljit Singh convicting Uttar Pradesh Superintendent of Police RK Singh, Inspector Brij Lal, constable Onkar Singh and Punjab Police Inspector Harinder Singh for eliminating Harjit Singh of Saharanmajra village in Khanna in 1994 would serve as ray of hope for many who were “going through mental torture in the long wait for justice”.
They lambasted the Central and Punjab government for adopting double standards on rights violation issues. On one hand, Gurmit Singh Pinky, a former militant turned police cat turned police official, who was serving life sentence for killing a innocent Ludhiana boy was released a few months back after spending only eight years in jail courtesy Badals. On the other hand, Sikh detenues who have spent more than 20 years in jails and have completed the term what in popular parlance is considered to be life sentence are not being released. They asked Badals to explain why come the norms under which Pinky was released are not being applied to these Sikh prisoners for whose release Gurbakash Singh was sitting on hunger strike since Nov 14?
Briefing the media about the programme of Dec 10 at Amritsar, party’s spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the issue of prisoners’ rights, custodial deaths, torture, involuntary disappearances and violations of rights of political dissenters would come in for discussion in the forthcoming meet. Explaining the rationale behind the rally, he said it’s an attempt to make the victims’ visible with a hope that their pain, anguish and wait for justice will be acknowledged and the violators punished.